I'm planning a trip for myself and my vegan husband to visit for 3 or 4 days. I don't know when, but probably late fall 2012. Neither one of us has ever been. I'm going to be looking through all the threads in this subforum, but it seems like there's a lot I could overlook. What are your absolute, diehard, favourite places to go in NYC for food, culture, whatever?

I'd appreciate any direction.

ETA: I also need advice on which area to stay in! Lower East Side? I don't know. I want to be central to everything!

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

My big advice is to stay somewhere close to a main subway line! I was by the A and C lines and it made getting around so much easier. I think the easiest thing to do is admit you can't possibly see it all and then focus on what you have to do and then plan around that. I highly recommend the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters (which isn't by anything but is amaaaaaaazing), Lula's, Foodswings and Champs. Also, if you have an iphone, the Not For Tourists NYC app is amazing. It lets you know what cool stuff is near you. I got to see Mark Twain's house and the Triangle Shirtwaist building because of it. Totally worth the $3.

Ooh how fun!! I'll write more later, but here are my top-of-head things:

1) Lula's for amazing ice cream

2) Almost any good bagel place for a bagel with veggie tofutti cream cheese

3) If you've got $ to spent, Candle 79 is wonderful.

Other than that, food-wise, it just depends on what you like and want to experience. We have good vegan chinese, indian, soul food, Carribbean food, vietnamese baguettes.. but you probably have some of that where you are, too.

As far as what to do, I'd say that also depends on what you are interested in. Art? Music? Wandering? Shopping?

Cloisters and the Met, indeed. And yes to being near a good subway, which should be fairly easy if you stay in Manhattan. There isn't anything central to everything and hotels can be quite pricey. Depending on your budget you might want to stay somewhere in brooklyn or queens for cheaper and take the subway to Manhattan when needed. I avoid the mid-town/Times Square area at all costs.

Food for me would be Lan Cafe and the vegetarian dim sum place on Pell St. Also Snice and the soul chick'n sandwich at Red Bamboo.

_________________Panda With Cookie If I get caught as a fugitive eating chain pizza, its going to be Pizza Hut. -linanilanil

My trips to NY always involve wandering in Chinatown, and since there is some good vegan food down in that area, sort of, it's great.I think a lot depends on what interests you- shopping, art, music, what? We always go to the Nat History museum as well, and we bus all over the place (inside and outside the city). South Street is interesting too.This last trip I was sort of limited in my mobility and time so I used Yelp a lot to decide where to do the things i needed to do (I used to be a NYer but things have changed so much that i needed help) and most of the reviews were super helpful and spot-on, especially for shopping challenges.As for staying, my friend always stays here http://www.heraldsquarehotel.com/ - i've never stayed there, but she's always happy with it. Hard to get more centrally located than that, though it sure ain't cheap. Also, if i remember right there is a Lush within about ten steps....

Excellent advice, guys! Yeah, I don't have the cash to stay at a swanky downtown boutique or anything. I'll keep brooklyn and queens in mind for hotels, the cheaper the better.We are art lovers and both the Met and the MoMa are on the must-do list. I feel like I need to see the touristy stuff on my first trip to NYC, too; Times Square, Statue of Liberty. Neither one of us are big shoppers but I'll likely hit up Moo Shoes.

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

2) Almost any good bagel place for a bagel with veggie tofutti cream cheese

Yeah, I feel like this needs to be part of our NYC experience. Any recommendations?Also, Jewish bakeries where I can get knishes?

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

I visited the city a handful of times before moving here and looking back I wish I had done my trips so much differently! I think it's wise to plan out each day in a particular area of the city so that you don’t spend all your time navigating the subway and travelling around. I would say to start with the touristy stuff, because they take a lot of energy and patience and then you can end the trip on a calmer note. Maybe shopping and sightseeing in Times Square the first day and a musical or play that night; the Statue of Liberty and the downtown area the second morning and Moo Shoes/ Chinatown/ Little Italy that night; the third day I’d venture either to Brooklyn or the East Village for shopping and awesome vegan food; then the last day I’d go to Central Park and any combination of the Met, the MoMA, or the Natural History Museum since they’re all close-by. Then I’d end that day with dinner at Candle 79 since it’s uptown, too.

For hotels, I’d also advise against Times Square - though you can get some really good deals there, it’s just a lot of crowds to put up with. If you can stay in mid-town (Murray Hill, Gramercy Park, Chelsea, midtown east or west) you’ll have good access to everything. I’ve gotten good deals through the Affinia hotels in midtown before.

Hope you have a great trip! We’re here to help!

ETA: Bring comfortable shoes! You will be walking SO MUCH and you will limit yourself a lot if you only bring cute heels. If you're coming in the winter months, comfy boots are perfectly acceptable at even the nicest of restaurants.

_________________"Also (in the slightly paraphrased words of Bernard Black): 'Cake, pie, it's an impossible choice. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow blows up and kills me.'" - Gunk

It's so early in the year to finalize plans, but I'd love to have a NYC PPKer meet-up happen while we're there.

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

Museum of Modern ArtTransit MuseumTenement Museum (which is super-close to MooShoes and Babycakes!)Candle 79Lula's (keep in mind they don't open 'til 3)Dun Well DoughnutsChamps for brunch and pastriesSoy & Sake or Red Bamboo for dinner (you've got to get some sort of crispy chicken dish)

It's so early in the year to finalize plans, but I'd love to have a NYC PPKer meet-up happen while we're there.

We're super overdue for a meet-up in NYC, so I think this would be awesome :-)

_________________"Also (in the slightly paraphrased words of Bernard Black): 'Cake, pie, it's an impossible choice. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow blows up and kills me.'" - Gunk

I'll get T. in on this conversation since he's the artist and knows his art. Yay! This is sooo far away, haha...but I was needing to book my vacation time at work soon so I got to thinking about this trip.

I'll make a post later in the year to co-ordinate with who will be in the area during that time and we can have a meetup!

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface

Lulas, Red Bamboo (soul nuggets), The Met, Take a ride on the SI Ferry (freeeee), Walk over the Bklyn Bridge

YES. YES. YES. YES. YES.

My fav thing at red bamboo is the chicken parm. Get it with a vanilla shake and you will fly off the planet.And, um, really, my favorite favorite thing is to eat half of it and then put the other half in the fridge for later. COLD. SO GOOD.

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Also, if you're going anywhere in the East Village / LES, you should probably call and make sure they're open. Those neighborhoods don't start to stir until 2 or 3pm.

And if you want the quintessential FUNYC experience, go to Trader Joe's on 14th St. at about 6:30pm on a weekday. KILL ME.

shut up, this was me 9 hours ago.

The trick is to shop the middle of the store first, then get in the outside line that inevitably wraps around the store and do the rest of your shopping in line. Am I right? (What little will to live I have left upon leaving the store is drained in the 14 block walk home.)

_________________"Also (in the slightly paraphrased words of Bernard Black): 'Cake, pie, it's an impossible choice. I'll just have to hope that when I flip the coin it somehow blows up and kills me.'" - Gunk

The trick is to shop the middle of the store first, then get in the outside line that inevitably wraps around the store and do the rest of your shopping in line. Am I right? (What little will to live I have left upon leaving the store is drained in the 14 block walk home.)

Yeah, but since there are two lines, you gotta choose whether you want to be in line that hits the isle with the cereal and rice milk or the isle with toiletries, coffee, tea, etc. So I go down whichever isle I can go down and then get in the line that takes me to the other one. It's an art.

Get yourself one of these little pocket pop-up maps. It has all of the attraction places listed, a subway map, and a fold out map of the whole city. Trust me it will be super helpful! Plus it's small, so if you take it out to use in public you wont look like a total tourist!

I don't know how you feel about zoo's, but the central park zoo is pretty cool. And they have cold weather penguins that are adorable! And they have a same sex penguin couple. Squeeee, they are so cute!

Central Park is fun and pretty, especially in the fall. Soho is great for art galleries. 5th Ave. for shopping and fashion. Go to Tiffany's, its blinged out! FAO Shwartz, be a big kid and go play with toys and jump around on the big keyboard. The Oddities store (Obscura) is weird and on tv, so that's fun. Museums upon museums! You could spend all day looking at art. Wall St. Go see all of the crazy bankers! The 9/11 memorial sadly is now something to see. Time square of course, the Macys and H&M are huge! NYC China town and Italian market are great too.

I mean, really whats not to love about NYC?

I don't have any tips on food or places to stay. But I did just go to LuLu's for ice cream. Soft serve vegan cake batter is something special. Drooooollllll